About the print:
At some point in the 1960s, this became the 324th print to enter the collection of the Austrian Film Museum, likely a donation of the Soviet embassy in Vienna. The print is in excellent condition. Shrinkage: 0.8–1%

About the film:
“In Nevsky, the white robes of the Teuton Ritter were associated with the themes of cruelty, oppression and death, while the color of black, attached to the Russian warriors, conveyed the positive themes of heroism and patriotism. This deviation from the generally accepted image for these colors would have been less surprising to the critics and press abroad (whose objections were very interesting in themselves) if they had recalled an astonishing and powerful passage of literature which I have since found for myself—the chapter called ‘The Whiteness of the Whale,’ in Melville’s Moby Dick.”
– Sergei Eisenstein, The Film Sense, 1942

“It is necessary to show historical figures correctly and strongly. You directed Alexander Nevskij. It came out very well. The most important thing is to maintain the style of the historical period.”
– Joseph Stalin in conversation with Sergei Eisenstein, Moscow, February 1947

Revisited Alexander Nevsky, a film that takes place in a period where history still blends with myth. The 13th century was a turbulent period around the Baltic sea. States and nations of today did not yet exist. Everything was in turmoil. An ancient pagan culture still survived in Finland, surrounded by Catholics in the West and Orthodox believers in the East.

Immediately in the lyrics of the opening song of the film we learn that "there was a battle on the Neva" where "a cruel adversary, a Swedish host" was beaten. Neva is a river that flows from Lake Ladoga to the Gulf of Finland in Karelia, through what is now St. Petersburg, giving the name to its main street Nevsky Prospekt. Karelia is divided between Russia and Finland today, as often before. "The Swedish host" consisted of Norwegians, Swedes, and Finns (including pagan Tavastians), but Karelians fought with Russians.

The Battle of the Neva has just taken place when the film starts, and the victorious warlord will be called Alexander Nevsky. He is the Prince of Novgorod (Novgorod was both a state and the capital of the state, a huge area of what is now Northern Russia). Immediately in the beginning we witness Alexander's diplomacy with the Golden Horde. Alexander has beaten the Swedes. Next come the Germans, and only then the Mongols.

During the making of the film Sergei Eisenstein was under the permanent control of two of Stalin's henchmen, the co-director Dmitri Vasilev and the co-screenwriter Pyotr Pavlenko, whose mission was to curb Eisenstein's "formalism". The result was a film closer to the mainstream than anything Eisenstein ever did. For example, for the first time he employed professional actors.

But the portrait of Alexander Nevsky as a man of the people was also deeply personal for Eisenstein whose favourite film was John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln made the next year. We first encounter Alexander as a fisherman, which may also be an allusion to "the big fishermen" in the Bible, although the official church here is painted in mostly sinister colours. Which is perhaps not far from the truth. The Finnish tradition about our Bishop Thomas of the 13th century (a Dominican, a Black Friar, a participant in the Battle of Neva) is not incompatible with the scary figures hovering over the Teutons here.

In the same popular vein are portrayed the gallant rivals Vasili Buslaev and Gavrilo Oleksich, both in love with the warrior maid Olga Danilovna, all great fighters from Novgorod. There are also traitors among Russians, ready to trade Russia for its goods.

The film is balanced between two impressive setpieces, one about life, the other about death. The great market of Novgorod is a showcase of the vitality of the people (and the merchants!). The Battle on the Ice of the Lake Peipus (Lake Chudskoe) takes place against the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Knights. It is one of the most legendary battle sequences in the history of the cinema.

Although there was an attempt to create popular cinema there is a strange jarring quality in the film. The ice battle filmed in summer heat is simultaneously impressive and unconvincing. The urge of the ostraneniya ("making strange") of the Formalists never left Eisenstein despite Vasilev and Petrenko's best efforts.

The great new element in Alexander Nevsky for Eisenstein was of course sound. Alexander Nevsky was Eisenstein's first sound film, and together with the composer Sergei Prokofiev he took the challenge of music so seriously that the result became one of the all time best film scores. Eisenstein treated Prokoviev as an equal and often let the film become music-driven.

The result was so powerful that immediately the music gained a life of its own as the Alexander Nevsky Cantata. Listening to this unforgettable music today on this print I also understood why there are now so many live film concerts of Alexander Nevsky. The performance of the score and the sound technology employed on the film itself are primitive and inadequate. They do not do justice to Prokofiev.

In fact, there is a film concert of Alexander Nevsky in Helsinki this year, 13 October 2017 at The Helsinki Music Center, Frank Strobel conducting the Radio Symphony Orchestra and Nils Schweckendieck conducting the Great Choir of the Music Center.

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About Me

Antti Alanen (born 1955) is Film Programmer at National Audiovisual Institute (Finland), which runs the Cinema Orion in Helsinki. This diary is an irregular notebook and scrapbook of rough notes on films and related matters. Spoiler alert: I spoil everything because for me plot and conclusion are essential to discuss!

Jazz Record of the Week 29/2017

Jazz Record of the Week 29/2017

Freddie Redd Quartet: The Music from The Connection [1960] (Freddie Redd Six Classic Albums 2/6)

Jazz Record of the Week 29/2017

Introducing Freddie Redd (Freddie Redd Six Classic Albums 1/6)

Jazz Record of the Week 28/2017

Kenny Dorham: Jazz Contrasts

Jazz Record of the Week 20/2017

Joe Henderson: Page One

Jazz Record of the Week 17/2017

Miroslav Vitouš: The Bass

Jazz Records of the Week 16/2017

Billie Holiday: All or Nothing at All (5 Original Albums 5/5)

Jazz Records of the Week 16/2017

Billie Holiday: Stay with Me (5 Original Albums 4/5)

Jazz Records of the Week 16/2017

Billie Holiday: Songs for Distingué Lovers (5 Original Albums 3/5)

Jazz Records of the Week 16/2017

Billie Holiday: Body and Soul (5 Original Albums 2/5)

Jazz Records of the Week 16/2017

Billie Holiday: Lady Sings the Blues (5 Original Albums Box Set 1/5)

Jazz Record of the Week 14/2017

The Mahavishnu Orchestra with John McLaughlin: The Inner Mounting Flame

Jazz Record of the Week 13/2017

Eero Koivistoinen: For Children

Jazz Record of the Week 8/2017

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman

Jazz Record of the Week 7/2017

Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: In a Mellotone

Jazz Record of the Week 6/2017

Duke Ellington: Piano Reflections

Jazz Record of the Week 5/2017

Miles Davis: Bitches Brew

Jazz Record of the Week 4/2017

Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus

Jazz Record of the Week 3/2017

Dollar Brand Quartet: Africa – Tears and Laughter

Jazz Record of the Week 52/2016

Albert Ayler: Goin' Home

Jazz Record of the Week 49/2016

Charles Lloyd: Forest Flower, live at Monterey

Jazz Record of the Week 48/2016

Sinikka Oksanen, Antero Stenberg, Radio Sessions 1959-1966

Jazz Record of the Week 47/2016

Django Reinhardt Vol. 6: 1940: Nuages

Jazz Record of the Week 43/2016

The Essence of Louis Armstrong (Phontastic, Sweden, 1987)

Jazz Record of the Week 42/2016

Tomasz Stańko: Balladyna

Jazz Record of the Week 39/2016

Cannonball Adderley: Somethin' Else

Jazz Record of the Week 38/2016

Tommy Flanagan Trio: Overseas

Jazz Record of the Week 37/2016

Miles Davis: Miles Smiles

Jazz Record of the Week 36/2016

Red Garland Trio: Groovy

Jazz Record of the Week 35/2016

John Coltrane: My Favorite Things

Jazz Record of the Week 34/2016

The Dave Brubeck Quartet: Time Out

Jazz Record of the Week 33/2016

Christian Schwindt Quintet: For Friends and Relatives

Jazz Record of the Week 32/2016

Carola & Heikki Sarmanto Trio

Jazz Record of the Week 25/2016

Cecil Taylor: Silent Tongues

Jazz Record of the Week 24/2016

Sonny Rollins: A Night at the Village Vanguard (1957, 2 cd reissue 2016)

Jazz Record of the Week 23/2016

Charlie Mingus: Blues & Roots

Jazz Record of the Week 22/2016

Mal Waldron: Moods

Jazz Record of the Week 21/2016

Django Bates: Belovèd Bird

Jazz Record of the Week 20/2016

Jacques Loussier Trio: The Original Play Bach Vols. 1 & 2

Jazz Record of the Week 19/2016

Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges: Side by Side

Jazz Record of the Week 18/2016

Ray Charles: Genius+Soul=Jazz. Complete 1956-1960 Sessions with Quincy Jones (Genius+Soul=Jazz, The Genius of Ray Charles, The Genius Hits the Road, and from The Great Ray Charles and The Genius After Hours)